Thursday, May 17, 2018

Make Your Own Kind of Music

We both slept in a bit this morning. I was up around quarter of 9; read and wrote in my journal in bed until Lauren got up around 10. I had cereal and strawberries and she had a peanut butter oatmeal bar while watching a travel and British royal family-themed episode of Tiny Toon Adventures. "Europe In 30 Minutes" takes Buster, Babs, Plucky, and Hamton across the pond for a whirlwind tour. They eventually end up at Buckingham Palace in London. Babs and Buster foil a plot to kidnap Princess Diana and Prince Charles; Hamton and Plucky avoid a royal chef who think they're on the palace menu.

It was lightly showering again when we headed out around 11 for a stroll in Oaklyn and Audubon. Our first stop was the House of Fun on the White Horse Pike. Lauren browsed in the wrestling figures and 80's action figures; I checked out the Star Wars shelves, DVDs, and stuffed animals. Lauren bought a "Rowdy" Roddy Piper figure from the 80's; I found Chewbacca and R2-D2 beanies from 1997 and a loose 12-inch C-3PO from the year before.

The rain was still coming down lightly as we made out way down the White Horse Pike and over to Market Street in Audubon. Our next stop was the used CD store Abbie Road, owned by kindly older music-lover Bob. He was having a big 3 CDs for five dollars sale. Lauren bought big band and jazz albums for her and her dad. I found:

Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band - Greatest Hits

Petula Clark - The Very Best of Petula Clark

Simon & Garfunkel - The Concert In Central Park (replaces a home-made cassette copy I've had since the late 90's!)

George Shearing Quintet - White Satin & Black Satin (Lauren found this one and offered it to me when she wasn't sure her dad would want it. I have their Satin Affair album and have been looking for the other "fabric" titles for years.)

The original Broadway casts for Pipe Dream, Anyone Can Whistle, and Monty Python's Spamalot

The rain was coming down a bit harder as we headed down Nicholson to the Audubon Crossings Shopping Center. I was hungry, and Lauren only had a Peanut Butter-Oatmeal Bar for breakfast, so next on the agenda was lunch at Sonic. Thankfully, the rain had slowed enough by this point to allow for eating outside...although needless to say, we were the only ones. Though the rain was slowing, it was warmer than expected and killer humid. Lauren had a double cheeseburger. I had a Breakfast Burrito. We both had tater tots and cherry limeades. I didn't realize my burrito came with pickled jalapenos. Yow! I drank my cherry limeade in a hurry! Next time, I think I'll get the Ultimate Burrito instead or try one of the other egg sandwiches.

We ducked into Marshalls and Ross Dress for Less to check them out. The weather must have scared people off - neither store was remotely busy. I didn't find anything, but Lauren picked up a nice lightweight yellow cardigan with flowing sleeves that can be draped around the arms at Ross. Peeked briefly at the Game Stop across the parking lot, but didn't come up with anything.

The rain was gone all together by the time we trooped over to the Acme to this week's grocery shopping. I didn't really need that much, anyway. Needed Scoops tortilla chips for dinner tonight, pie crusts for dinner next week, and bananas and the buy-one-get-one strawberries and raspberries for fruit this week. Had Monopoly coupons for yogurt and turkey pepperoni and a free coupon for Barilla pasta sauce. Restocked milk, cereal, and the inexpensive Acme generic Greek yogurt.

We were lucky. It was still just cloudy and humid when we finally strolled home. After we put everything away, we played an hour or so of Wii Sports. Lauren won both rounds of tennis and the bowling round, but I killed her at golf. We tied on baseball.

I made bean dip for dinner around 6. We had the bean dip and the leftover hummus from last week with the Scoops chips for a nutritious, simple, and tasty dinner. That bean dip always comes out so well! I don't think I've ever done a bad batch. I like adding just a little taco sauce with stock instead of the picante sauce called for. Gives it just the right amount of zip.

Ran the remaining two Garfield travel specials while I cooked and we had dinner. Garfield In Paradise takes Garfield, Odie, and Jon to a tropical island resort for some fun in the sun. They love their nifty 50's rental car...until it lands them among a tribe of doo-wop-worshipping natives whose volcano is about to go off!

Garfield and Odie get to show off their dancing paws in Garfield In Hollywood. They won a trip to La La Land after they came in first in a local pet talent contest. Garfield is determined to take first prize...but Jon is worried that winning might mean leaving him behind.

Since we still had plenty of time, we switched to the original Lego Indiana Jones. I got a walkthrough book at Jay Street Video Games a few months ago. Got through the first two rounds with Indy searching for the idol in the temple (complete with outrunning the infamous boulder!) and with Marion at her place and in the frozen landscape of Nepal.

Ended the night online after I got out of the shower while watching The Great Outdoors and streaming cartoons and vintage wrestling. Chet (John Candy) is looking forward to a relaxing vacation at a cabin in the woods with his wife Connie (Stephanie Faracy) and their two sons. That lasts for less than a day before Connie's rich investment broker brother Roman (Dan Ackroyd), his wife Kate (Annette Benning) and their twin daughters show up uninvited. Roman is determined to show up his brother-in-law with his posh lifestyle and constant investment schemes. Meanwhile, Chet's son Buck (Chris Young) is chasing a local girl (Lucy Deakins), but she gets upset when he breaks their date to watch his dad eat a massive steak. Matters come to a head during a thunderstorm, when Chet discovers that Roman isn't what he claims to be...and that family helps each other in times of crisis, even when they drive each other crazy.

Definitely an improvement on Summer Rental, this is a bit like like a cross between that film and screenwriter John Hughes' previous Candy hit Planes, Trains, and Automobiles...only here, it's the rich guy who is annoying the middle-class guy. Ackroyd's excellent comic timing is a big help here; his interaction Candy makes the movie a lot of fun. If you're a fan of Hughes or either actor, this is absolutely worth checking out.

Tomorrow, we're planning on hiding from the heavier rain in the Cherry Hill Mall and Hillview Shopping Center.

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